Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, will become the 21st city in the world to host the Winter Olympic Games in February 2010.
And while I am sure the city sees it as a great honor, it is also a major undertaking of projects--with a very firm deadline. The operating budget for the event is well over CAD$1.6 billion--CAD$580,000,000 of which is devoted to the construction of venues.
With only a little over a year left to get it together, much of the project work has been completed or is nearing completion.
There are a total of 15 competition and non-competition venues in four cities for the 2010 Olympics. A few of the major venues have already been completed, including the home of speed skating, the Richmond Oval, indoor competition venue, UBC Thunderbird Arena and a figure skating venue called Pacific Coliseum at Hastings Park.
Sustainability has been a big part of many of these projects. For example, during the construction of Whistler Olympic/Paralympic Park, the site of the biathlon, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and ski jumping competitions, recyclable materials were used as much as possible, while over 75% off construction waste materials were diverted from a landfill and either reused or recycled and natural light was used as much as possible to minimize lighting requirements.
"Every design decision and every construction technique utilized were measured against a series of questions: What is the legacy benefit of this decision/technique? What is the best practice? Can we think of another way which offers a better cost/benefit result? How does this fit into our schedule and budget?" said Vancouver Organizing Committee executive vice president, construction, Dan Doyle.
And sometimes the project schedule takes on a life of its own. A light railway project in Vancouver had been in the works since the late 1960s, but it took on an added urgency as the city realized it probably didn't want an active construction site in the center of all the Olympic activities. So the city launched it with a deadline of November 2009--and the team is ahead of schedule.
So far, things seem to be going well for these games when compared to the recent Olympics in Beijing (which were tarnished by environmental concerns, protests and reneges on guarantees of full press freedom) or even the planning efforts for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London (which is facing big budget problems thanks to the global financial crisis).
Following the release of latest quarterly report last month, John McLaughlin, CFO for the Vancouver Organizing Committee said, "In light of the world's current turbulent economic outlook, we are fortunate to remain in a sound financial position as 2008 comes to an end. We have secured the majority of the funding commitments we require and our venue construction is largely finished. Looking ahead we must continue to remain prudent financially, and this discipline will be reflected in our revised budget to be released in early 2009."
We will be following the progress--good and bad--as the final preparations are made for these Olympic Games. You can check for project profiles, interviews, etc., here on Voices, on PMI.org/features and in PM Network (Passing the Torch.pdf).
And while I am sure the city sees it as a great honor, it is also a major undertaking of projects--with a very firm deadline. The operating budget for the event is well over CAD$1.6 billion--CAD$580,000,000 of which is devoted to the construction of venues.
With only a little over a year left to get it together, much of the project work has been completed or is nearing completion.
There are a total of 15 competition and non-competition venues in four cities for the 2010 Olympics. A few of the major venues have already been completed, including the home of speed skating, the Richmond Oval, indoor competition venue, UBC Thunderbird Arena and a figure skating venue called Pacific Coliseum at Hastings Park.
Sustainability has been a big part of many of these projects. For example, during the construction of Whistler Olympic/Paralympic Park, the site of the biathlon, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and ski jumping competitions, recyclable materials were used as much as possible, while over 75% off construction waste materials were diverted from a landfill and either reused or recycled and natural light was used as much as possible to minimize lighting requirements.
"Every design decision and every construction technique utilized were measured against a series of questions: What is the legacy benefit of this decision/technique? What is the best practice? Can we think of another way which offers a better cost/benefit result? How does this fit into our schedule and budget?" said Vancouver Organizing Committee executive vice president, construction, Dan Doyle.
And sometimes the project schedule takes on a life of its own. A light railway project in Vancouver had been in the works since the late 1960s, but it took on an added urgency as the city realized it probably didn't want an active construction site in the center of all the Olympic activities. So the city launched it with a deadline of November 2009--and the team is ahead of schedule.
So far, things seem to be going well for these games when compared to the recent Olympics in Beijing (which were tarnished by environmental concerns, protests and reneges on guarantees of full press freedom) or even the planning efforts for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London (which is facing big budget problems thanks to the global financial crisis).
Following the release of latest quarterly report last month, John McLaughlin, CFO for the Vancouver Organizing Committee said, "In light of the world's current turbulent economic outlook, we are fortunate to remain in a sound financial position as 2008 comes to an end. We have secured the majority of the funding commitments we require and our venue construction is largely finished. Looking ahead we must continue to remain prudent financially, and this discipline will be reflected in our revised budget to be released in early 2009."
We will be following the progress--good and bad--as the final preparations are made for these Olympic Games. You can check for project profiles, interviews, etc., here on Voices, on PMI.org/features and in PM Network (Passing the Torch.pdf).
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